A golf putter is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,034,989 having a putter head comprising a planar striking face and aiming assisting means, wherein said aiming assisting means have two portions extending in a rearward direction with respect to the striking face and wherein, seen from above and in said rearward direction, said at least two portions diverge outwardly, each of said at least two portions having a virtual extension in a direction forward of said striking face which meet at a point of convergence. This document thus discloses a golf putter having, in particular, on the opposite side to the striking face of the putter head, a pair of spaced aligning or "sighting" members which have the function of assisting the golfer to align the ball with the line to the hole.
By "striking face of the putter" is hereby meant that face of the putter which is substantially planar and contacts the ball when putting.
Whilst the putter of the aforesaid document may provide some assistance for the golfer, the device has several drawbacks. Firstly, the putter head alignment means, i.e. the rearwardly projecting "sights", are designed to give a point of convergence several feet in front of the putter's striking face. This construction, in particular for golfers having problems with concentration, may have a somewhat detrimental effect since the golfer has to concentrate his attention on the ball in order to hit it cleanly, on a point some feet away given by the sights and also on the hole itself (in order to control the motive force for putting the ball the correct distance). An additional drawback is that the golfer must imagine the lines of sight provided by the aiming means extending through the putter head itself, since the sighting means connect with the putter at points spaced inwardly from the outer edges of the putter. This naturally provides an additional means of distraction for the golfer.
Further examples of golf putters having alignment means thereon are also known for example from U.S. Pat. No. 3,921,984, U.S. Pat. No. 4,650,191 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,535.
One further object of the invention is to use the surface of the ball itself to assist in lining up the way to the hole. Many players use the markings on a golf ball to help them align their putts with the line to the hole, since the ball may be picked up whilst on the putting green (e.g. for cleaning) and replaced in a new orientation at the same location. However, whilst this is claimed to result in increased putting accuracy, full use of all alignment potential of the ball is not in fact effected.